Kushner Netanyahu Gaza Meeting, Iran War Depleting US Military, FL, AK, WY Primaries
August 18, 2026
AI Summary
5 min readNetanyahu and Kushner Paper Over Gaza Gaps — But Only for English Speakers
Jared Kushner said he was "optimistic" after a nearly four-hour meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel this week, but the Israeli government immediately published two different accounts of the conversation — one in English for international audiences and one in Hebrew for domestic consumption. The English version described "deep and constructive discussions." The Hebrew version, attributed to an anonymous Israeli official, cut the other way: "Deep down, we Israel don't believe Hamas will disarm, and the Americans do."
The Gaza Roadmap: Same Plan, Different Audiences
Kushner's visit followed his meetings with Hamas leaders in Egypt, which he described as "cordial" — though he added it's "hard to trust a terrorist organization that committed what he called terrible atrocities." The Hamas officials, he said, "said all the right things."
The core dispute centers on a U.S.-backed roadmap that originally called for Israeli withdrawal from Gaza alongside Hamas disarmament. Netanyahu had initially rejected that framework. After the marathon meeting, Kushner said he and Netanyahu "poured over the details" and worked through what he called "misunderstandings."
Continue reading the full summary in the app — free to try.
Read Full Summary →Free • No credit card required
Never miss an episode of Up First from NPR
Get every new episode summarized in your inbox — free, ~5 minutes to read.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
What you'll learn
- 1 (00:02) **Kushner-Netanyahu Gaza Meeting Reveals U.S.-Israel Divide** - The Israeli government publicly signals unity with the U.S. after Jared Kushner’s meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu, but privately emphasizes deep disagreements over Hamas disarmament.
- 2 (05:32) **Iran War Depletes U.S. Military Resources, Straining Pacific Posture** - The ongoing conflict with Iran has drained warships and interceptor missiles, forcing the U.S. to reduce military cooperation with South Korea and leave the Pacific without an aircraft carrier.
- 3 (09:12) **Alaska Senate Race Draws Millions in Outside Money as Primary Day Arrives** - The toss-up race between incumbent Republican Dan Sullivan and Democrat Mary Paltola is attracting unprecedented spending from super PACs trying to manipulate the ranked-choice voting system.
- 4 (11:56) **Florida and Wyoming Primaries Feature Open Governor’s Race and Ethics Probes** - Florida’s race to replace term-limited Ron DeSantis is a key contest, while a Republican congressman under ethics investigation faces primary challengers.
- 5 Standout Quotes
- 6 “Deep down, we Israel don’t believe Hamas will disarm, and the Americans do.” — Anonymous Israeli official, revealing the U.S.-Israel divide in a Hebrew-language statement.
- 7 “The question really is who’s ready to go, who’s not in the maintenance period, whose air wing is qualified to get underway and go on a long deployment.” — Mike Daum, former naval intelligence officer, on the challenge of replacing the Pacific carrier.
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Guests on this episode
Show Notes
The war with Iran is draining America's military and it's being felt across the world, as the U.S. runs low on warships and interceptor missiles and no American aircraft carrier in the Pacific for the first time in years.
It's primary day in Alaska, Florida and Wyoming, with a high-stakes Senate race in Alaska that could help decide control of the chamber, millions in outside money has been pouring into the contest.
Want more analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.
Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.
Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Tina Kraja, Rebekah Metzler, Padma Rama, Mohamad ElBardicy, and Alice Woelfle.
It was produced by Ziad Buchh and Ben Abrams.
Our director is Christopher Thomas.
We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis and our technical director is Eowyn Fain.
And our Supervising Senior Producer is Vince Pearson.
(0:00) Introduction
(01:50) Kushner Netanyahu Gaza Meeting
(05:32) Iran War Depleting US Military
(09:13) Florida, Alaska and Wyoming Primaries
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy
More from this podcast
Up First from NPR →